Zip, Padova, and the Parco del Roncaiette

ZIP (la Zona Industriale di Padova) is the largest \”industrial park\” in Italy, employing around 25,000 persons. The ZIP consortium owns a large adjacent area, the Parco del Roncajette, which will become a major new park for the city. The site has flood control channels which contain polluted water from the city, the industry and the upstream areas, and which eventually flow into the nearby Venice lagoon. There are proposals to reduce pollution, and ZIP is committed to implementing a \”Sustainable Industrial Area Model\” consistent with recent directives from the European Union. The site also has the city\'s sewage treatment plant, the famous analog model of the Venice Lagoon, and residential and agricultural inholdings. While the parco site may have been initially conceived as a barrier between a great old city and a new industrial zone, it now is seen by some as a link in a greater landscape system. ZIP and the city are committed to building a new city park on this land, but there are many unknowns . There are other linked issues. Padua has a \”green spaces strategy\” which includes connecting many small \”green areas\” and reconsideration of the future of an existing local airfield, while ZIP has major expansion plans on nearby farmland which is linked to the parco by a river-canal. In a sense, a large new park is being designed while an adjacent existing industrial zone is being ecologically reconsidered and another nearby industrial zone should be preplanned in the context of the city\'s landscape strategy and regional infrastructure.The studio will not be \”one student, one design\”. It will be an organized collaborative effort with substantial self-management by the students. The aim is to produce and compare three or four alternatives for the parco and its ZIP and urban context, based on different sets of assumptions, so that the student\'s designs can be the focus of what can be expected to be intense local debate. ZIP and the city want the proposals so that they can clarify their needs, assumptions and preferences. There are issues ranging from the metropolitan/regional to very detailed project design. I would like to have a diverse a group of students from any of the GSD\'s programs.The studio is sponsored by the ZIP Consortium and has the full cooperation of the Mayor and government of Padova.There will be an early site visit, from September 4 through 10. Travel and per-diem costs will be covered by the studio budget. There will be an intensive agenda that will include an orientation to Padova (one of Europe\'s great \'cultural\' cities) the region, and considerable activities \'on site\'.The Lottery for this option studio was already held.